Oklahoma Supreme Court upholds dismissal of Tulsa Race Massacre reparations lawsuit

The lawsuit was brought by Viola Fletcher, who is now 110, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, who is 109. It was also brought by Hughes Van Ellis Sr., who died last year at age 102.

By Misty Severi

Published: June 12, 2024 3:58pm

The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit that sought reparations for living survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre.

Three survivors originally brought the lawsuit against the Tulsa County sheriff, county commissioners, and the Oklahoma Military Department in 2020. But the lawsuit was dismissed by a lower court last year.

The district judge that initially dismissed the lawsuit claimed that "simply being connected to a historical event does not provide a person with unlimited rights to seek compensation," according to CNN.

The lawsuit was brought by Viola Fletcher, who is now 110, and Lessie Benningfield Randle, who is 109. It was also brought by Hughes Van Ellis Sr., who died last year at age 102, The Hill reported.

The state Supreme Court said in its ruling that grievances “with the social and economic inequities created by the Tulsa Race Massacre [are] legitimate and worthy of merit," but that it could not "extend the scope of our public nuisance doctrine beyond what the Legislature has authorized to afford Plaintiffs the justice they are seeking."

Plaintiffs claimed that the effects of the massacre, which is known as one of the deadliest attacks against black people in United States history, can still be felt a hundred years later. The atrocity resulted in the deaths of hundreds of black people, and the arrests of more than 6,000 black Tulsans.

The attack also resulted in the destruction of Tulsa's Greenwood neighborhood, formerly referred to as "Black Wall Street" because of its economic success.

Fletcher claimed that she never "got over" the events of the massacre, and still remembers the destruction and chaos that brewed in the city.

“[I remember] people getting killed, houses, property, schools, churches, and stores getting destroyed with fire," Fletcher told CNN. “It just stays with me, you know, just the fear. I have lived in Tulsa since but I don’t sleep all night living there.”

Misty Severi is an evening news reporter for Just the News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.